It’s actually more than two years since we looked at The Elmsley Count Project DVD – which I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t checked it myself! But now, in the follow up disk, Liam Montier applies the same kind of detail and rigour to the Double Lift as he did to the ubiquitous count.
Like its predecessor this is a big and in depth project. The move is split up into its constituent elements and each one is explored in minute detail. First up is
The Get Ready
This starts at the very beginning – how you hold the deck and what a break is. Then six different methods for getting there are described: The Lift Up, Gary Ouellet Get Ready, Push Over Break, The Lift, The Thumb Count and The Pinkie Count.
The Turnovers
The meat of the move is the actual turnover itself. There are – can you believe it – 14 different ways of turning the double taught (although some are fairly small variations on each other). I’m not going to list them all here – you can check out any advert for the details. Some are very flashy, others very casual – there really is something for everyone.
There are helpful comments and tips on when different variations might be appropriate. In addition to the normal top of the deck lift, there are a couple of variations from the centre of the deck. One or two of the moves feel like they are there for completeness but have little application – but I suppose you never know…
As if all these variations on the DL were not enough, this wouldn’t be a BBM DVD without including some great tricks utilising the move.
The Tricks
The Chicago Opener/Red Hot Mamma
is probably familiar to anyone who has been in magic more than 5 minutes, but remains a great trick.
The Fingerprint Trick (David Solomon)
A technically easy trick with a nice premise and a strong kicker for a lay audience.
Two Card Transpo (Peter Duffie)
We’re big fans of Peter Duffie and this neat little effect doesn’t disappoint. There is nice ‘staging’ for this transposition of two cards which adds to its visual appeal – and dead easy to do.
Leapfrog (Dave Campbell)
Another nice visual transposition effect – this time of aces sandwiched between cards of the same colour.
Double Swap Sandwich (George McBride)
This is a variation of an Alex Elmsley trick which is a great starting point. Using a pair of Kings as ‘tweezers’ two cards are selected and returned to the pack. The other pair of Kings are used to find them – but in fact locate the original pair of kings – which have now magically turned into the selections whilst sitting on the table. This utilises one of the special double lifts taught earlier and is a really clever routine – as long as your spectator can remember two cards! Elmsley’s original version is also taught.
Mona Lisa Trick (Mike Skinner)
The lovely premise of this trick means that it carries much more weight than its simple mechanics would suggest. A freely selected card is lost by the spectator in the middle of the deck. Then a ‘Mona Lisa card’ visually transforms into the selection in a dramatic way.
Final Thoughts
As well as providing very clear explanations of the actual mechanics, there is a lot of wisdom about finesses and contexts for using different moves and techniques. As we’ve written before, Liam is a great teacher with a knack for explaining things clearly.
The main question left in our minds was, given all the existing literature/DVDs covering the DL was another disk necessary? If you’ve already got a DL you use then this may not be an obvious purchase. But there is value in having different options in your tool bag – and you could still pick up some useful tips and grow in confidence in your handling of the move. This would certainly be a brilliant resource for someone just starting out – clear teaching combined with some great effects…
Available from MoM – £22.99 at time of writing. With thanks to BBM for supplying the review copy.
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